Ya know, I'd never heard of a face cord before moving to Freetown--or is it NYS in general??-- 20 yrs ago--I had to order 7(in my mind--FULL) cords & asked the guy to just bring 3--holy crap--kinda shocked when he pulled up in a tonka pick-up & told me that was it--the PRICE seemed real nice until I caught on

Lightning wrote:There may be confusion there between face cords and full cords. He won't need to burn 18 tons of coal

agreed....my 3 second calculation didnt allow time to fractionalize what his cord size may be compared to a full cord so i qualified the guess with the full cord note. most guys i run into think a stack of logs 4' tall by 8' long is a cord, even if the logs are 18" - 20" long.

i would guesstimate based on 20 'cord' of wood and assuming the above mentioned 'cord' size he'd be looking at 8 - 10 ton.

Lightning wrote:There may be confusion there between face cords and full cords.

I doubt it. I used to burn nearly that much (50 face cords for the city boys) in a big farmhouse that sat between 1000 acres of open farm land and Lake Champlain. The house was a little bigger, but the point is that those big old places with drafty windows can consume a LOT of btu's. The house I live in now had a wood boiler when we moved in. The previous owners said they had heated with wood for 20 years, 15-16 cords per year is what they averaged...plus a few tanks of heating oil per year for the spring-summer-fall. Now I am doing the same job with 9-10 tons of coal per year. Coal stoker furnaces and boilers are considerably more efficient than a traditional wood unit, mainly due to the different combustion properties of anthracite (less air required, no creosote produced).

Regardless of how many btu's were required before, now is the time to keep the wind from blowing through the house. A good rule is that 50% of a home's heat loss is due to infiltration. Seal up those gaps between the sill and foundation, make foam inserts to cover those drafty basement windows. Caulk/fill/foam as necessary to stop the drafts. Got a set of pull-down attic stairs? Make an insulated box to set over the stairwell in the attic.

freetown fred wrote:Ya know, I'd never heard of a face cord before moving to Freetown--or is it NYS in general??-- 20 yrs ago--I had to order 7(in my mind--FULL) cords & asked the guy to just bring 3--holy crap--kinda shocked when he pulled up in a tonka pick-up & told me that was it--the PRICE seemed real nice until I caught on

And what depth is a face cord? Unless the sticks are 24 inches it is less than 1/2 cord.

This video will tell you all what a cord of firewood is... I bet this is someone who belongs to this forum....???

I also have an older farm house. This is the first year I took 2mil poly and wrapped all the doors I don't use during the winter along with my basement door which leads to the outside. There was a considerable difference knocking down all the draft that would wizz thru my house. I know I'm saving energy by doing this. My biggest culprit was my walkout double basement door. I thru up some 2mil poly and threw one of those Zippers in the middle so I can go in and out with no problems. My draft was decreased by 75% at least just from this one door.

freetown fred wrote:Ya know, I'd never heard of a face cord before moving to Freetown--or is it NYS in general??-- 20 yrs ago--I had to order 7(in my mind--FULL) cords & asked the guy to just bring 3--holy crap--kinda shocked when he pulled up in a tonka pick-up & told me that was it--the PRICE seemed real nice until I caught on

Face cord is nothing! A few years ago my brides boss bought some wood. A fireplace cord! She cried about what she paid and what she got. I came to the rescue with my dump trailer and respectable supplier, I work with his wife and saved the day. A case of beer and and Apple pie, I was happy By the way the guy came and picked up his fireplace cord, probably would of fit in a wheel barrow